Friday, March 25, 2016

"Hello, My Name is Doris" And the Week in Reviews

[I review the new movie "Hello My Name is Doris" as well as the DVDs "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" and "Before We Go." The Book of the Week is "Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up." I also bring you up-to-date on "My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project" with the documentary "The Act of Killing."]

Shy, socially awkward and sixty-something, Doris (Sally Field), is inspired to pursue a much younger man at her office after attending a self-help lecture.Doris is a woman of a certain age who has never married and who has spent most of her life caring for her mother. Now her mother has passed away and she is left alone in the house on Staten Island full of the stuff that she and her mother hoarded over the years. Her brother, Todd (Stephen Root), escaped that fate, married and started a business, so now he and his wife, Cynthia (Wendi McLendon-Covey), want Doris to get rid of all of that stuff and sell the house. But for hoarders, it's not that easy. Doris is not just a hoarder. She is also awkward and shy and socially stunted.Doris travels into Manhattan every day for her job as an accountant in a clothing firm. Since everyone else in the firm appears to be either millenials or hipsters, one couldn't help but wonder how sixtyish Doris, in her quirky retro clothes and perpetual bow in her hair, got a job there. Thankfully, for people like me who wonder about things like that when watching a film, it is explained that she was grandfathered in when the new company took over.Doris has her routine. She has her cat, is seeing a shrink for her hoarding and hangs out with her friend, Roz (Tyne Daly - Remember "Cagney and Lacey?" - good to see her again). One day in a crowded elevator at work she is crushed up against a handsome 30-ish young man who engages her and who turns out to be the new head of the art department at her work. She is instantly smitten and imagines him ravaging her up against the wall (she reads a lot of those bodice rippers). She may be socially stunted but she's not dead!At a lecture led by self-help guru Willy Williams (Peter Gallagher, who has aged well, I might say), a proponent of positive thinking who throws out the usual aphorisms ("glass half empty, half full"), he tells Doris she is "possible." Wearing her little "Hello, My Name is Doris" nametag, Doris decides that having a love affair with John (Max Greenfield), that new, much younger, guy at work, is possible and she sets out to win him over. Actually she stalks him. She gets Roz's 13-year-old granddaughter (Isabella Acres) to set up a Facebook page with a fake name and fake picture (I thought we were going to set off into "Catfish" territory here) to friend him so she can learn more about him. She learns that he likes a band called Baby Goya and goes to one of their concerts. Roz's granddaughter told her that the proper dress for such a concert would be something neon so she puts together an outlandish outfit and her dream is realized. John is there at the concert and they form a bond.Now here is where the movie lost me. The lead singer of Baby Goya, who I guess IS Baby Goya, spots Doris in the audience and invites her backstage where he asks her to pose for the cover of his new album because, I guess she is so outrageously uncool looking that she's actually cool. It's a millennial thing, I guess. And all of his millennial friends, displaying all of the worst sort of millennial interests, take her under their wing, and Doris starts enjoying the attention and this new lifestyle. Somehow I don't think that would happen, no matter how "cute" or even hip such folks would find a sixty-something woman.But that aside, this is a story of hope and a woman who doesn't have much time left to live out her dreams. I like the idea that Doris thinks she has a shot with John. At this point, she doesn't much care what other people think. So, Doris, go for it!Sally does a great job creating this character, though Doris can be irritating and juvenile at times, but then I think. Can't we all? Her performance is a comic tour de force that we haven't seen from an actress over 40 for a long time. I'm glad she's back. And thank you, Sally, for looking like your age, though you always had that baby face. She allows herself to be seen without make-up, and I don't see signs of plastic surgery or botox which sends a great message to younger actresses. Let yourself age gracefully.Directed by Michael Showalter and adapted from a short film called "Doris and the Intern" byLaura Terruso, it is refreshing to see a film starring a woman of a certain age. We need more of these! Rosy the Reviewer says...Sally Field...I like you, I really like you!

Yet another YA book about a young teenage girl with an incurable disease brought to the screen.The film starts out with our hero saying, "Senior year of high school. The worst year of my life and I made a film so bad it nearly killed someone."Greg (Thomas Mann, no, not THAT Thomas Mann) is in his senior year of high school and has made it through by being invisible. He identifies with no specific group - stoners, theatre kids, jocks - but rather straddles them all. He has found a way to maintain relationsips with everyone. He is neither popular nor unpopular but he is full of insecurities.

Greg's best friend is Earl (R.J. Cyler), and African-American kid who Greg says is more like his co-worker than friend, because they spend most of their time making parodies of movies - "Eyes Wide Butt," "My Dinner with Andre the Giant," "Death in Tennis." Earl understands and says, "He hates calling people his friends. Dude's got issues." Yes, Greg does. Instead of braving the social mores of the high school cafeteria, Greg and Earl eat lunch in the high school history teacher's office every day. There is a funny scene where Greg and Earl are eating lunch and wonder why the teacher is always eating soup. They try some and get stoned. Yikes, the teacher is a stoner!Greg finds out that Rachel Kuchner (Olivia Cooke), a girl he knows, has leukemia. His mother (Connie Britton) wants him to visit her because she thinks it would make her feel better. I think it's kind of far-fetched that his mother would make him do that or that he would, but Greg is a good kid.Molly Shannon plays Rachel's mother, one of those inappropriate mothers, who answers the door swinging a wine glass around and hugging teenage boys just a little too tightly. Rachel doesn't want pity or to hang out with Greg, but he begs her and admits that his mother has made him do it - "If you don't let me hang out with you my mother will never let it go. She is the Le Bron James of nagging."But they hang out together and, turns out, Greg is quite funny and witty. He amuses her and they form a bond. They share a love of foreign films. Though his mother made him spend time with her, naturally their relationship morphs into a friendship, or what would be the point of this film, right?Madison (Katherine Hughes), Rachel's friend, suggests that Greg and Earl make a film for Rachel. Greg and Earl interview Rachel's friends and other students and Earl also forms a bond with Rachel. At the same time that we are dealing with Rachel's illness, we are dealing with the usual high school angst - fear of leaving home, fear of failure, fear of going to college. Greg is struggling. He gets depressed and his grades go down. He has no date for the prom, he has a falling out with Earl and he gets rejected from college. But when Greg stops by the hospital to see Rachel and to show her the film he and Earl made, Greg is able to put his own problems into perspective. I mean, teenage angst vs. cancer? One can't help but compare this to the recent "The Fault in our Stars," another YA book about a dying teenage girl brought to the screen. But Alfonso Gomez-Rejon has directed an unsentimental story, adapted from his own book by Jesse Andrews, that shows us that peoples' lives continue to unfold after death - they live on via memories, deeds and what they left behind. Gomez-Rejon uses animation to show Greg's perspective on life, which seems to be a hip device aimed at teens that was also in evidence in "Diary of a Teenage Girl" too.Thomas Mann as Greg is a sweet, dorky presence who exudes charisma and Ryder is a nice foil and the rest of the cast are all first-rate.I just wish the grammar here was better. "Me and Earl?" Bad English. I never was able to break my teenage son of that. "Me and Jimmy want to go to the movies, OK, Mom?" Ugh.Rosy the Reviewer says...despite the subject matter, an unsentimental coming of age story that rings true. Watch it with your teens and see what they think.

A woman and a man meet cute at Grand Central Station. He is busking and she misses her train after having her purse stolen in a bar. He comes to her rescue and they spend the night together having adventures and forming an unlikely relationship.Chris Evans, who if this film is any indication, looks like he wants to change his Captain Americasuperhero image to a romantic lead, stars as Nick and Alice Eve is Brooke. It is late at night and Brooke dashes by Nick in Grand Central Station. She is distracted and agitated and it is revealed that her purse had been stolen in a bar and she has missed her train, the last one back to the 'burbs. To make matters worse, she drops her phone and breaks it. Nick decides to help her even though at first she doesn't want him to. Brooke is married. She tells Nick that she needs to get home before her husband does or her marriage is over. So Nick says he will get her there. Meanwhile, Nick also has a secret. He was invited to a wedding reception where his ex-girlfriend will be, a girl we can tell he has not gotten over.They spend the night walking around trying to figure out how to get Brooke home with no money. They decide to go to that wedding and possibly borrow some money from someone. However, they go to the wrong wedding where they are mistaken for the band in a very far-fetched scene where they decide, OK, you think we are the band? We'll go for it. Brooke sings accompanied by Nick and she is very good. Of course she is. But before they are discovered as imposters, the organizer of the wedding entertainment gives them a key for the "green room." When they are discovered, they go to that room, order room service and talk about "room graffiti," where people draw things on the back of hotel paintings. Sure enough. We look on the backs of the wall art and there are drawings on the back. Is this really a thing?The film has many "Huh?" moments like that one and another where they consult a psychic who tells them they don't need to pay him (huh?), but the two of them are an engaging couple. Over the course of the night, the two reveal their stories and current circumstances.This is one of those "strangers meet and walk around all night" stories. There is a decided "Before Sunrise" vibe as well as a dose of "Once," but without the music. It's a sweet little talky movie starring two very beautiful people. In fact, I never realized how handsome and charismatic Chris Evans is. My new crush?It's nice to muse over losing my purse and having someone like Chris Evans come to my rescue. I had one of those nights once long ago in college and always wondered what happened to that guy.Directed by Chris Evans, this was obviously a labor of love for him and a way to be something other than Captain America.Rosy the Reviewer says... If you likeLinklater's "Before Sunrise" films, you might enjoy this one too. Chris's Nick is a bit too good to be true but we can dream, can't we?

Former Indonesian death squad leaders reenact their mass killings in a variety of genres."It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets." - Voltaire. Thus begins this documentary about the 1960's killings in Indonesia of over a million people, anyone who opposed the military regime: alleged communists, ethnic Chinese and intellectuals. The government used paramilitary and gangsters to do the killings, one group was the Pancasila Youth, led by Anwar Congo. That group still has many current members in Indonesia.Anwar and his friends were delighted when they were approached by documentarian Joshua Oppenheimer, who asked them to reenact the killings in any movie genre they wished. They chose the styles of American movies that they loved. As Oppenheimer directed this film within a film, the assassins are enthusiastic, building elaborate sets, using special effects and making fancy costumes. When interviewed they were proud of the killings and were happy to reenact them for what they hoped would be a successful feature film. They bragged about their deeds - butchering and killing entire families - and they were never punished for what they did. In fact in many circles they were revered and looked up to for ridding the country of the "communists." Several times they proudly call themselves gangsters because the word means "free man."As the assassins describe the killings, they share the best clothes to wear for killing someone, the best way to kill, all in a very matter-of-fact way. They brag about being more sadistic than the Nazis. In general, though, as the film progresses their humanity slowly emerges, they try to rationalize their acts and admit that they know killing is wrong. Eventually some of the men start to exhibit guilt and remorse about what they had done, especially Congo.Why it's a Must See: "Executive produced by Werner Herzog and Errol Morris, [this film] is a shocking, surreal, and stunningly original documentary...[director] Oppenheimer eschews historical context or archival footage, instead focusing on a few individuals as they gradually come to recognize the abhorrence of their crimes."---"1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die"This film won many awards in 2014 including an Oscar nomination and the BAFTA for Best Documentary Feature Film category.Rosy the Reviewer says...a timely film in light of the continuing terrorism and mass murder of innocent people around the world.

***The Book of the Week***

Spark Joy:An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up by Marie Kondo (2016)

Apparently, we are all now obsessed with organizing, folding and tidying.I just took one of those quizzes that are so rampant on Facebook. It was a personality quiz and my highest score was for "orderliness" at 92%. So it's no wonder I was drawn to this book.But I am not the only one interested in organizing and tidiness. This is the second book from Kondo, whose first book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" was a major best-seller. I think it says something about our world that we want someone to whip us into shape! And that she does. This is a sort of "Tiger Mother" for messy people.Here she goes one step further with her KonMari Method of folding everything and organizing drawers, shelves and closets to explain how this will give you joy. She divides the book into categories such as rain gear, paper supplies and food and then tells you how to deal with it all in a way that will give you joy (brace yourself, sometimes she says, get rid of it)!There are all sorts of little platitudes and homilies interspersed, to inspire you, I would guess. The book begins with: "Life truly begins only after you have put your house in order." I can't help but think, then, of all those poor sods who live in messy houses and whose lives have yet to begin.The KonMari way has six rules:1. Commit yourself to tidying up2. Imagine your ideal lifestyle3. Finish discarding first4. Tidy by category, not by location5. Follow the right order6. Ask yourself if it sparks joyOK, that all sounds reasonable. But isn't joy subjective?For example, I have to question the joy in throwing out a vase in lieu of a plastic bottle for your flowers. Don't we get some joy from the lovely vase? She goes on to say you can then throw out the plastic bottle. Where's the joy in a plastic bottle? My joy is the lovely flowers in the lovely vase. Her joy is obviously throwing stuff out.Here is more:"Pack drawers like a Japanese bento box."You are kidding me!"Fold clothes like origami."You are kidding me some more!"Tidying puts relationships into focus."Huh?Rosy the Reviewer says...Ohhhh.... Just too much material here...I feel a blog post coming on. See you Tuesday!

That's it for this week!

Thanks for reading!

See you Tuesday for

"How to Turn Your Undies into Origami, or, Is There Joy To Be Had in Decluttering?"

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3 comments
:

I DID see Doris and really enjoyed it. I went to the early show on a Wednesday and it was filled with seniors older than me! Boy did they laugh thru the entire movie. I wasn't sure I wanted to see Sally Field like this. Came away loving her performance and I agree about her courage in showing her age.

There is ANOTHER Kondo book? I think I may need to read it...just because...

I came here for your review of Doris, and will probably see it as a result, thanks. Also noticed your review of Marie Kondo's book. I have not read it, or any other of Kondo's output, but she is a regular rock star, so to speak, in her native Japan (I lived there for a decade and am a professional Japanese translator). "Pack drawers like a bento box" sounds nutty, but actually makes good sense to the Japanese; in a bento box, everything has its designated place, and there is no waste. I guess the moral here is, some memes do not travel well between cultures. No surprise there, eh.

Anyways, thanks for all your reviews! I will be reading many more of them, I expect.

About Me

A mostly humorous blog from a retired Baby Boomer librarian, a regular gal who fearlessly reviews movies and books for regular folks but also will occasionally rant about food, fashion, pop culture and whatever strikes her fancy at any given time. It's Life in Review from the perspective of a Woman of a Certain Age!
Find new movie and book reviews every Friday and the occasional rant about life and other topics on the occasional Tuesday. Like me at http://www.facebook.com/rosythereviewer/